Gutter forming attachment for brakes



Oct. 23,1956 6. H. PETERSON GUTTER FORMING ATTACHMENT FOR BRAKES Filed May 1953 IN V EN T 0R. Georyeflieterson BY HT IQENE Y United States Patent Ofifice 2,767,762 Patented Oct. 23, 1956 2,767,762 GUTTER FORMING ATTACHMENT FOR BRAKES George H. Peterson, Denver, Colo. Application May 8, 1953, Serial No. 353,719 2 Claims. (Cl. 153-16) This invention relates to improvements in sheet metal brakes and has reference more particularly to an attachment that can be readily applied to any ordinary sheet metal brake to adapt it to the making of gutters and the like.

Gutters form a substantial portion of folded sheet metal manufacture and are formed either by brakes specially constructed for this purpose or by machines using rolls to bend and form the material.

Practically all sheet metal workers having their own shops have brakes but these are not equipped for the economical manufacture of gutters with the result that gutters made by such brakes carry a high labor charge and the different sections are not exact duplicates which makes the installation diificult. Gutters made by running strips of sheet metal lengthwise between forming rolls are subjected during manufacture to excessive stretching which injures them and which frequently tears the material.

It is the object of this invention to produce an attachment for 8 to 10 foot brakes and other sizes which can be quickly attached to the upper brake leaf and which greatly facilitates the correct bending of the sheet metal without subjecting it to any injurious stretching.

In order to describe the attachment or invention and its manner of use in such a way that both can be readily understood reference will now be had to the accompanying drawing which forms part of this application and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the essential elements of the brake and the attachment, the latter being shown in one position by full lines and in another position by broken lines;

Figure 2 is an end view of a sheet metal strip which has been subjected to three bending operations in an ordinary brake;

Figure 3 shows how the prepared strip of Fig. 2 is positioned in the brake for its first bending operation by the attachment that forms the subject of this invention;

Figure 4 shows the position of the parts after the first bending operation by the present attachment;

Figure 5 shows how the strip is again positioned in the brake for the next operation of the attachment;

Figure 6 shows the position of the parts at the end of the last bending operation performed by the attachment;

Figure 7 is an end view of the strip after its removal from the brake in Fig. 6;

Figure 8 is an end elevational view of the finished gutter, and

Figure 9 is a fragmentary section taken on line 9-9, Figure 1.

In the drawing the essential elements of the brake have been shown in a general way. Reference numeral 10 designates the brake bed; numeral 11 the upper brake leaf; numeral 12 the lower brake leaf and 13 the standard gutter mold bead which is held in place by a plurality of removable clamps 14. The parts identified above the present in all standard brakes and will not be further described. Attention being called, however, to the fact that leaf 11 has an up and down motion for clamping the material while it is bent or folded.

The attachment that forms the subject of this invention comprises two hingedly connected members which for convenience in describing will be designated by letters A and B; the latter being in effect an auxiliary brake leaf.

Part B is about ten inches wide and has upturned edges forming flanges 15 and 16 which are about one inch in height. Part A will be referred to as a hinge member and has a flange 17 that makes an angle of approximately degrees with its upper surface. Hinges 18 are welded to flanges 16 and 17 as shown in Figure 9. Part A is secured to brake leaf 11 by bolts as shown. A plurality of spaced handles 19 are secured to part B as shown in Figure 1. Part B can turn through an angle of approximately degrees and usually through a greater angle.

Operation A strip of sheet metal S of the proper length and width is first bent at a and b into the shape shown in Figure 2 and this is then positioned in the brake in the manner shown in Figure 3. Part B is now turned counter-clockwise to the position shown in Figure 4 bending the material about the gutter mold head 13. The strip is now removed and re-positioned in the brake in the manner shown in Figure 5 and the auxiliary leaf B turned counter-clockwise to the position shown in Figure 6 whereupon the strip is removed and now has the shape shown in Figure 7 after which it is bent at c, d and 2 into the shape shown in Figure 8.

The gutters formed in the manner shown and described are always straight and no part thereof has been stretched.

The attachment shown in Figure 1 comprising the two hinged members A and B can be attached to any standard brake and it is therefore possible to adapt such brakes to the manufacture of gutters of the type shown at a comparatively small expense.

When the attachment is not in use it can easily be removed, and the brake can thereupon be used in the usual manner.

What is claimed as new is:

1. An attachment for a sheet metal brake having a bed, an inclined upper brake leaf, a lower brake leaf and a gutter mold head attached to the upper edge of the latter comprising, an elongated hinge member having one edge portion extending laterally at an angle less than 90 degrees to the upper surface forming a flange on said hinge member, said flange being spaced from, and parallel to, said mold bead, and the other edge portion having openings for bolts for attaching it to the upper surface of the upper brake leaf, and a wide auxiliary brake leaf hinged to the flange of the hinge member about an axis spaced from the upper surface of said brake leaf and from the work engaging surface of said auxiliary leaf, for rotation from a substantially horizontal position to a substantially vertical position, and for bending a strip of sheet material clamped between the bed and the upper brake leaf about the gutter mold bead forming an arcuate curve therein.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the auxiliary brake leaf has perpendicular flanges along its edges with one of said flanges abutting said hinge flange when said auxiliary leaf is in said horizontal position, and in which said auxiliary leaf is provided with transversely extending handles.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

